The Barbados National Register was launched on 28 July 2009.
It was instigated as part of the UNESCO’s MoW programme which aims to preserve and disseminate information about valuable archive holdings and library collections worldwide. The vision of the MoW programme is that the world’s documentary heritage belongs to all, should be fully preserved and protected for all, give due recognition to specific cultural mores and practicalities, and should be permanently accessible to all without hindrance. There are three types of registers – the International Register; the Regional Register; and the National Register (more details can be found at UNESCO MoW website).
The International Advisory Committee (IAC) is the main body responsible for advising UNESCO on the planning and implementation of the Programme as a whole. It comprises 14 members serving in a personal capacity, appointed by the Director-General of UNESCO, and chosen for their authority in the field of the safeguarding of documentary heritage. The Director-General convenes the IAC in ordinary session every two years. Alissandra Cummins is the current Chair and the first Barbadian to hold that post.
The other members of the facilitating body for Barbados are:
 Elizabeth F. Watson |
 Alissandra Cummins |
 Roslyn Russell |
 Ray Edmondson |
 Victoria Borg O’Flaherty |
 Tara Inniss |
 Aviston D. Downes |
A cornerstone of the Memory of the World programme is the preservation of the endangered, vulnerable and fragile documentary heritage of the world. Another pillar of the programme is to protect against cultural amnesia. For countries in the Caribbean wrestling with the consequential issues of post-colonialism there is another challenge – that of unearthing the region’s heritage whether it is buried in people’s homes or national institutions, be they in the region or beyond. Heritage and memory are intrinsically intertwined with the concept of identity. It is therefore important, as part of the maturation process of nationhood, that decided steps are taken such the Memory of the World programme, to ensure the existence of a solid patrimony of the Caribbean for future generations. This inherited knowledge provides access to information about the region as seen through Caribbean lens rather than of a colonial prism.
Under the theme Uncover, Recover and Discover this programme addresses the process of preserving the endangered, vulnerable and fragile documentary heritage by shedding light on records which forefront the Caribbean as an important creator and contributor to the world’s documentary heritage from the perspective of within rather that from without. More importantly the programme seeks to stem any potential cultural amnesia that will occur if determined steps are not taken to preserve the heritage of the region. These activities are therefore undoubtedly in harmony with the intent of UNESCO in promoting and developing its Memory of the World programme in Barbados and beyond.
Back then two of our documentary citations were added to the Memory of the World register on July 30. These were the Dame Nita Barrow Collection and the Federal Archives Fonds both housed at UWI Cave Hill Campus, Barbados. These join the Barbados Museum’s Documentary Heritage of the Enslaved Peoples of the Caribbean added back in 2003.
Unfortunately, due to lack of funds, we have not yet put in place any of lessons learned from our UK National Archives colleagues to preserve, and further still digitise for public access, these most precious documents detailed below.
Documentary Heritage of Enslaved Peoples of the Caribbean
Submitted to the International Memory of the World Register in 2003 the documentary was finally included in 2009 and is cared for by the Barbados Museum and Historical Society.
This is a unique corpus of documentary evidence relating to the lives of enslaved Caribbean people through the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, that is preserved by the Barbados Museum and Historical Society. The collection provides invaluable source material for scholars studying the history of Barbados, the model for the development of the plantation economies of the Caribbean and North America. It includes antique legal documents, plantation ledgers, estate and shipping inventories, rare books and original prints addressing issues of leadership, control, ownership and status amongst Afro-Caribbean populations which are all explicitly illuminated in this context. Additionally the loss of family history, the absence of “ancestral memory”, among the majority of the Caribbean, African and African American people, whose ancestors had little control over their own destiny or direction, has meant a loss of cultural identity. Access to these records could serve to help recover the lost heritage of millions of people.
Federal Archives Fonds
Submitted to the International Memory of the World Register in 2008 the documentary too was finally incuded in 2009 and is cared for by the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus (Barbados).
It covers the story The West Indies Federation (1958-1962) which was a political federation of ten territories in the Anglophone West Indies that signaled the beginning of a new era of decolonization in the post-World War II period. The history of the West Indies is inextricably linked with the histories of other former British colonies. Hence, these records are of international significance as they reflect the inter-connectivity of these histories and document one of the decisive periods of twentieth century history when territories, under the colonial rule of the British Empire, first flexed their ‘political muscles’ and sought to become self-governing nation-states.
The Nita Barrow Collection
Submitted to the International Memory of the World Register in 2008 the documentary was also finally included in 2009 and is cared for by the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus (Barbados).
This extensive collection documents the life and times the late Ruth Nita Barrow, Dame of St. Andrew (1980) and Dame Grand Cross of the Most Distinguished Order of St. Michael and St. George (1990). Her lifetime spans 1916 to 1995 – the era of the Cuban Revolution, the oppressive Apartheid system in South Africa, world and political changes in Eastern Europe such as the fall of the Berlin wall (a piece of which forms a part of the Nita Barrow Collection’s memorabilia).
Land Registry Deeds Record Books
Submitted to the International Memory of the World Register in 2008 the documentary was included in 2009 and is cared for by the Land Registration Department, Ministry of Housing and Lands & Department of Archives.
These Deeds Record Books contain penned, paper copies of original deeds executed in Barbados during the period April 1647 to December 1949. The Record Books are the only original source of information on land transactions in Barbados for most of the island’s history as a British colony. The collection is therefore unique and of vital importance for an understanding of the island’s legal history, social development and land law. Much of this important and irreplaceable collection is in fragile state and is at risk of being unuseable in the foreseeable future.
Richard Allsopp Papers
Submitted to the International Memory of the World Register in 2008 the documentary was included in 2009 and is cared for by the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus (Barbados).
This documentary records the life of Dr. Allsopp, the pioneer in the linguistic study of Caribbean Creoles. He was awarded the Crane Gold Medal for the most outstanding work in education in British Guiana in 1958. He was a member of the Editorial Board of the New Oxford English Dictionary, a founding member of the Society for Caribbean Linguistics. Professor Allsopp could be likened to Samuel Johnson (of the 1750s) who singlehandedly complied a Dictionary of the English Language. Allsopp’s self-collated Dictionary of Caribbean English Usage was published in 1996 by Oxford University Press. As opposed to the various collaborative dictionary and lexicographical works, the Allsopp collection is the result of his lifetime research efforts and academic pursuits. Each text, dictionary, index card, audiocassette, and monograph all fed into his dictionary of Caribbean regional English usage, providing actual examples of the word usage and a cross-reference to like-meaning words from around the Anglo-phonic Caribbean. The fonds consists of a wide variety of paper-based documentation in a variety of formats which detail the life and times of the research works in general, and the passion and drive of Dr. Allsopp in particular.
Richard B. Moore Collection
Submitted to the International Memory of the World Register in 2008 the documentary was included in 2009 and is cared for by the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus (Barbados).
The Richard B. Moore Collection is a unique library of books collected over sixty years by Richard B. Moore, a Black Barbadian writer, educator and activist who was resident in Harlem, New York from the period of the Harlem Renaissance to the Civil Rights era. The Collection documents important aspects of the black experience during the twentieth century. It is a unique resource for anyone interested in the cultural, intellectual and political history of the black Atlantic world, but is of special importance for people of African descent throughout the world. The Collection reflects Richard B. Moore’s lifelong commitment to the causes of black consciousness and liberation, Caribbean nationalism, anti-colonialism and socialism, as well as his abiding interest in African heritage, culture and identity.
BIM Magazine And The Frank Collymore Collection
Submitted to the International Memory of the World Register in 2008 the documentary was included in 2009 and is cared for by the Ellice Collymore and Family & the Barbados Department of Archives.
This documentary evidence encompasses the sixteen volumes of the Bim archive along with the correspondence addressed to Frank Collymore from three internationally established authors (Derek Walcott, George Lamming and Edgar Mittelholzer) along with the correspondence from nine Caribbean authors and scholars as well as correspondence from Henry Swanzy the producer of BBC radio programme Caribbean Voices provide the strongest claim that the FAC Collection might make for nomination to the UNESCO Memory of the World Register.
Frank Appleton Collymore (1893 – 1980) is widely known in the world beyond Barbados as the editor of the Barbados based literary magazine Bim. In 1942, when the magazine was launched, he was one of three editors. By the third issue he had taken over as sole editor. In the 32 years that followed he produced 56 issues before relinquishing the editorship in 1974. By issue 10 in 1948 Collymore had received contributions from Barbados, Trinidad, Jamaica and Guyana (then British Guyana). Through the 1960s and into the 1970’s Bim remained the most important regional outlet for the young West Indian poet or short story writer.
The importance of the magazine is that it provides a miniature history of primary sources in West Indian literature. In the mid twentieth century the magazine fostered the idea, new in the region at that time, that the profession of writing is an honorable one. The magazine was the chief meeting place for Anglophone literary ideas thus enabling the writers to overcome their isolation. Bim provided also an opportunity for new writers to appear in print alongside more established Caribbean writers who had published abroad. The magazine was thus a major force for regional dialogue, championing regionalism by its actions. Almost every important West Indian writer contributed first poems and short stories to Bim. It was here that they obtained their first encouragement and it was from here that links were established with the BBC programme Caribbean Voices and its producer Henry Swanzy who championed the development of Caribbean writing abroad.
The latest documentary being a collaborative work with the Isthmian Commission (Panama), Jamaica, Saint Lucia, United Kingdom and United States of America is entitled Silver Men: West Indian Labourers at the Panama Canal. You can read the full details on our page about Barbados Department of Archives and UNESCO.
The Barbados Memory of the World Committee was established in 2000 under the auspices of the Barbados National Commission for UNESCO. It has been chaired since February 2000 by Miss Elizabeth Watson, Campus Librarian, Cave Hill, The University of the West Indies.
Other members are:
- Dr. Aviston Downes (University of the West Indies) – Vice Chair and Secretary
- Mrs. Cherie-Ann Beckles (UWI Archives)
- Miss. Lynn Lucas (Government Information Service)
- Mr. Sherwood MacCaskie (Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation)
- Mrs. Ingrid Marshall (Department of Archives. Barbados Government)
- Miss. Harriet Pierce (Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation)
- Miss. Annette Smith (National Library Service)
- Mrs. Andrea Wells (National Cultural Foundation)
- Representative of the Ministry of Community Development and Culture
- Representative of the Barbados National Commission for UNESCO
The Memory Of the World, Barbados can be contacted at: mowbarbados2009@gmail.com
At the Barbados Archives 
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